Ride For Fun Kills Menchville Junior

NEWPORT NEWS — More than just about anything else, Benjamin Scott Harris loved hanging out with his friends.

``He liked people, and he wanted to be part of their lives,'' his brother Bobby said Thursday. ``He had friends everywhere he went.''

But it was during a joy ride with five of those friends Wednesday night that Harris was killed on a darkened York County highway.

State Police say the Menchville High School junior was driving a 1989 Ford Mustang north on Crawford Road just south of Goosley Road about 9 p.m. when he lost control, drove off the road and smashed into a tree.

The 17-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. The passengers in the car - two boys and three girls - suffered injuries but none was life-threatening, police said.

State Trooper Scott Nelms said Thursday that alcohol was not involved in the accident. ``He just took a sharp curve a little faster than he should have and he lost control,'' Nelms said.

Harris' stepfather, John Hill, said the boy told his family he was just going for a drive with some friends with no specific destination in mind and that he'd be home later that evening. Instead, the family got a visit from a state trooper who said the boy was dead.

Hill said his stepson wanted to be a carpenter and was spending part of his school day taking carpentry classes at New Horizons Technical Center.

The teen enjoyed wrestling - he was on a school team when the family lived in Oklahoma - and he was planning to go out for Menchville's wrestling team next year, family members said.

A former Boy Scout, Harris was the youngest of four children. He also has several half brothers, a half sister and a stepsister, all of whom live in the Hampton Roads area.

The only passenger still hospitalized Thursday night was Kimberly Sutton, who was flown by helicopter to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. She was listed in stable condition Thursday night with cuts, bruises and minor fractures.

Police said the other passengers were Robin Napier, Tammy Lynn Fowler, Daniel Spaulding and Daniel Halfwill. Trooper Nelms said he believed all were from Newport News but didn't know if or where they attended local schools.

Harris' family said they were at a loss to explain how such a tragedy could happen, especially so close to the holidays.